that as he peered about him, he seemed half bird, half reptile, a reminder of those outlandish feathered creatures of the dim past when the avian race was in its infancy. Seen in the shadows, there would have been nothing to offset this grotesqueness of form and awkwardness of attitude; but perching there in the brilliant sunlight on the summit of the naked cypress top, he was not the somber-hued creature which he seemed when he stood with wings half-open, like a gorged vulture, on some dead limb in the dim, ghostly, moss-tapestried swamp glooms. A green iridescence played upon his glossy black neck, breast and white-tipped tail; upon his back was traced a delicate lace-like pattern of shining white; short gray plumes adorned his head and neck; a rounded blue spot at the base of his bill shone brightly in the light, and the long, straight bill and small throat pouch were of a rich orange color, matching the hue of his webbed feet.
The brooding anhinga spent no time admiring his kinsman—a replica of himself—on the sunny cypress top nearby. To him a more interesting because a less familiar sight was a magnificent wild turkey gobbler who walked slowly along the bank at the lower end of the lagoon, pausing upon the big pine log where the otter had feasted and the wildcat had met the buck. The anhinga looked to see the harem that should be following this superb bronze
